Archive for the ‘Library’ Category

As usual on Saturdays I get to announce our Puzzle of The Week winner who was selected at random from all the correct entries. Many congratulations to:

Laura Luce

Here is last week’s puzzle.

From the picture clues, identify the famous author:

So the solution we needed was:

DUG (from the Pixar film Up)

GLASS

ADD

AMS

= DOUGLAS ADAMS

I also asked you to impress me by explaining why this week’s solution is particularly apt. There were a lot of great ideas including that March is Douglas’ birthday month and also the month in which The Hitchhiker’s Guide to The Galaxy radio series was first broadcast, and also that Douglas wrote for Doctor Who which is back on TV this week. Whilst those are all excellent answers indeed, the reason I was looking for was that this is GeekMom Puzzle number42! Kudos to those who got the answer, I’ll ask the Easter Bunny to leave an extra egg for you all.

The GeekMom puzzle is taking a short break over Easter so there will be no new puzzle tomorrow, but we will be back soon.

A lot of the musicians that I used to crank back in the day are now venturing into content for children. They Might Be Giants, Ziggy Marley, Jewel, and Barenaked Ladies. I guess we’re all growing up. However, we still know how to rock out. Lisa Loeb is included in that crop, and she’s about to launch her second release into the kiddie category. Lisa Loeb’s Songs for Movin’ & Shakin’ is a combination book and CD, and it’s coming out on Tuesday, April 2, 2013.

Since her 1994 hit “Stay,” the singer has put out eight studio albums, starred in a reality TV show, got married, developed her own eyewear line, and given birth — twice. The 2003 album Catch the Moon and 2008′s Camp Lisa were both geared towards little listeners. Recently, she’s turned out a pair of children’s CDs that come paired with a book that’s super quirky and cute, just like Lisa.

For the new release, Lisa re-teamed with illustrator Ryan O’Rourke, who also worked with the singer on 2011′s Lisa Loeb’s Silly Sing-Along: The Disappointing Pancake and Other Zany Songs. Ryan has perfectly put all of Lisa’s music into images that kids will absolutely adore. It reads like an enchanting, unique set of liner notes. The included CD has 10 songs designed for movin’ & shakin’ — just as the title indicates. Fun for all ages, it’s a mix of kiddie classics and original works with a pop twist.

Lisa Loeb. Image: Kevin Westenburg.

Recently, I got the chance to ask Lisa about her songbook, her career, and her life as a rockin’ mom.

GeekMom: What first motivated you to make music and books for children?

Lisa Loeb: I had an offer from Barnes & Noble to make an album different from my regular grown-up records. I’d always wanted to make a kids’ record, inspired by Really Rosie, Carol King’s grown-up-sounding kids’ record.

Do you consider Songs for Movin’ & Shakin’ to be more of a book or a CD — or both?

LL: That’s a good question. I think they’re companions. The cool thing is that you can listen to the CD without the book or look at the book without the CD. In the end, I hope it’s a jumping off place (no pun intended) for kids to learn the songs and sing them with their friends and family without either!

GM: Do you see more children’s music and books in your future?

LL: I have a bunch of ideas for kids’ projects I’d like to do, so I’ll continue recording for kids. I think having children now, I get what kids like or might want. I made my other CDs without that personal experience with kids, and my inspiration came from my memories of childhood as well as my collaboration with people who do have kids.

GM: How did you go about picking the classic kids’ songs that are included?

LL: I picked songs that I loved when I was younger. I’d get so excited when a camp counselor would start singing “Peanut Butter & Jelly” or “Do Your Ears Hang Low.” I just couldn’t wait to jump in and do all the hand motions and sing with the other kids!

GM: Do you have a favorite children’s book?

LL: I love so many kids’ books. Right now, one of my favorites is one I bought in Boston — Emeraldalicious — which is a cute book about the environment with magical illustrations. I also love Little Blue Truck and Go Dog Go!

GM: I know that you have little kids at home. How do they react to the book and CD?

LL: My daughter is very proud of the books and CDs. We listen to a number of different artists for kids and for grown-ups, but she knows that those are “Mommy’s music” and books. My son just loves music, but he’s only 9 months old, so can’t really tell me about it in words yet.

GM: How does parenthood effect your work process and touring?

LL: Being a parent has really helped me to discipline my days better. With kids’ naps and trying to make sure I get enough sleep myself, I have windows during which to work, and if I miss time with the kids, then I really feel obligated to do my best work when I’m away from them. It’s a good kind of compartmentalization that really benefits the creative process. It makes it more important and special, whereas before, it was a little amorphous and overwhelming. Also, touring has been a bit tough, being away from the kids more than a couple of days doesn’t feel quite right. When I come home, they seem like they’re great — they spend time with their dad and often with a grandparent and their regular nanny and all of their fun activities they normally do. I just don’t love that I can’t see their faces every single day and hug them.

Yehudi Mercado is an artist and writer, whose first indie comic series, Buffalo Speedway, tells the tale of pizza delivery boys in Texas delivering pizza on that fateful day in 1994 when everyone was glued to their televisions watching the saga of OJ Simpson unfold. Years ago, Yehudi and I worked together on some hilarious math CD-ROMs for kids, so I first knew him as a kid friendly artist. Now he’s following the mature comedy of Buffalo Speedway with an awesome series for kids, Pantalones, TX.

Pantalones, TX has a Dukes of Hazzard vibe about it that I find hilarious. All of Yehudi’s work reminds me of the shows that I loved as a kid — the shows feminist adult me can hardly believe I watched. Yehudi answered some of my questions about his current work, rodeos, vegetable attacks, and mash-ups.

GM: Your first series, Buffalo Speedway, is a rather racy look at the lives of pizza delivery boys on the busiest day of pizza delivery. What prompted the switch to a series for kids?

SuperMercado Comics

YM:Buffalo Speedway began as a screenplay so it was always meant to be an R-rated comedy and I wanted the graphic novel to stay true to that tone, but it started to bother me that I didn’t have a book that kids could read. Especially at conventions, it just felt wrong to turn away a potential reader. I would say that Pantalones, TX isn’t just for kids.

GM: When I read your comics, I’m reminded of things like Cannonball Run and Dukes of Hazzard and cartoons of my childhood. What are some of your biggest influences?

YM: I love car chases. I think growing up in a time when most of the tv shows on the air were mainly about a cool guy and a car is to blame. Knight Rider, Dukes of Hazzard, Spencer for Hire, Automan, Speed Racer as well as films like Smokey and the Bandit, Hooper, Cannonball Run, and The Road Warrior all colored my world. My mother hated that I loved Dukes of Hazzard, which might of contributed to my obsession.

GM: Pantalones, TX is almost shocking in today’s climate of kid’s media, chock full of explosions, guns, and running from the law. How much do you think about what is or isn’t OK to show kids? Is there a line you won’t cross?

YM: I don’t think it’s shocking in today’s cartoon climate. Shows like Adventure Time and Regular Show are a return to the good old days of fun cartoons. I did purposefully envision Pantalones, TX as the anti-safety pad cartoon. I see my nieces and nephews growing up in a sheltered and sanitized environment, they don’t play outdoors at all. When I was a kid we shot fireworks at each other while playing in a bayou. I’m not saying that’s the right thing to do, but there should be a balance.

As far as guns, I’m careful not to have any of the kid characters holding guns. There’s an image of Annie Oakley shooting a gun, because that’s what she’s famous for and there’s an image of the paranoid town weirdo holding an Elmer Fudd-style shotgun, but never fires it. I want to make sure guns are never glamorized or fetishized.

I do consciously have all my characters question authority. I was sent to detention for various things like wearing a tuxedo to school and “jiving.” So I think kids should have a healthy amount of skepticism when it comes to the dubious decisions of adults.

GM: Two of the oddest characters in Pantalones, TX are a giant chicken and a pig boy. Is there an origin story to these characters?

YM: The giant chicken was all about re-writing the tall tales and legends we’ve all taken as commonplace. A Giant Blue Ox seems normal now, because we grew up hearing it over and over. And Pig Boy started as a sketch that I thought was funny. I also like the idea of having a kid character that’s not “normal” to outsiders, but whose friends treat as absolutely normal.

GM: There’s a theory in Part 2 that if people become vegetarians, the vegetables will develop a taste for all that uneaten meat and will eventually overtake humankind. Can we look forward to these murderous vegetables in future comics? And, is this how vegetarians are treated in Texas?

YM: Yes you will see the eventual rise of the ruffage. It’s like the underlying threat to Pantalones, notice how Gengo County has all that corn growing. And yes that is how vegetarians are treated in Texas. I was a vegetarian for a couple of years in high school and finally broke down and ate a full rack of ribs. I still struggle with the idea of eating meat. I think the world would be a better place if we were all vegetarians, but steak is so darn delicious.

Baby T IRL. Photo: Yehudi Mercado

GM: What are the qualities of a good rodeo?

YM: I don’t like all the animal hurting in the name of entertainment, but I do like the chuck wagon races. The first rodeo I went to featured Donny & Marie and a monkey riding a dog so it’s pretty hard to top that.

GM: Who came first, Baby T the character or Baby T the real life dog?

YM: Baby T the real life dog came first. The original pitch had a Javelina (a wild pig) as the pet sidekick. When I got Baby T, his formal name is Texas, I thought it was perfect to have him be Chico’s co-pilot.

GM: Every since your Game of Thrones of Muppets I’ve been anticipating more of your mash-ups with glee, and you’ve been working them into your various comic con appearances. Tell us more about them, and which ones are your favorites.

Find Yehudi at a Comic Con near you and roll the dice for your own mash-up character combo. Photo: Yehudi Mercado

YM: Yeah I had this idea to offer mash-ups of chance at conventions. So I have people pick two properties, either Marvel, DC, Adventure Time or Muppets and roll two dice to determine the combination. People seem to really like making a game out of it. I keep waiting for someone to roll a Lumpy Space Princess Hulk. I would do that one for free.

GM: Where can people find you and your comics? Any upcoming cons?

YM: Go to www.SuperMercadoStore.com that’s where you can get all my stuff. I have a bunch of conventions coming up. C2E2 in Chicago, Phoenix Comic Con, Dallas Comic Con, Heroes Con in North Carolina and San Diego Comic Con.

GM: Any word on upcoming SuperMercado Comics?

YM: Red5 is publishing my Queen Esther biblical book Throne of Secrets. And I’m working on an animated short for Pantalones, TX called Ghost Town & Down where Chico and Sheriff Cornwallis must form an unholy alliance and prevent Pantalones from turning into a ghost town.

My kids have been hooked on Greek mythology since they were tiny, beginning with D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths and working their way up to Percy Jackson and beyond. When author/illustrator George O’Connor began publishing gorgeous graphic novels about Zeus and his ilk, all of us were thrilled. Now in its fifth installment, O’Connor’s Olympians series continues to captivate with a look at the many moods of the god of the sea: Poseidon: Earth Shaker, published by First Second Books.

Melissa Wiley: George, thanks so much for agreeing to chat with us about your work! You have a lot of fans in the GeekMom crowd. And in my house. We’re all impressed by how you manage to bring something new to the storylines we know so well — that’s no mean feat.

Tell us about the genesis of the Olympians series. You mention that you fell in love with the Greek myths when you were a kid — how were you introduced to them? What are your favorite versions (both now and as a kid)? When did you decide to write graphic novels about them?

George O’Connor: I was always the kid who liked to draw pictures and tell stories, and I especially liked to draw pictures and tell stories with monsters in them. When I was in the fourth and fifth grade, I was part of an experimental educational program where, for a couple days a week, myself and a group of other kids left our regular classes and spent the day in a very interesting immersive study program — we did a lot of creative writing and journaling, we made our own Rube Goldberg inventions, all kinds of cool things. A lot of what I was exposed to then is still the stuff I am most interested in now.

We spent a month studying the Algonquin and Iroquois people, and that in part inspired my first graphic novel Journey into Mohawk Country. And the biggest thing for me, we spent the last couple of months of my 4th grade year studying Greek mythology, and that changed everything. I became a Greek Myth addict, and I read everything I could find about the myths, and drew the gods, heroes and monsters constantly.

Like every budding mythophile, my favorite mythology book growing up was D’aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths — I never actually owned that one, but I took it out from the library every few months, and would re-devour it. D’aulaires’ still holds up well for me — the illustrations are so weird, but it does a great job of knitting together the unwieldy tapestry of Greek myths into a coherent narrative.

Strangely, despite this lifelong love affair with Greek mythology, it wasn’t my idea to create the Olympians graphic novel series. I had actually been working on another related idea, about the gods in the modern day, that would have been a more adult, satirical examination about society in general, but it wasn’t quite pulled together fully yet. One day I was hanging out with my Roaring Brook picture book editor Neal Porter at his apartment, and he compared a mutual acquaintance of ours to Cerberus, the drooling three-headed hellhound of Hades. I responded with some equally geeky Greek reference to a Cyclops or something, and Neal fixed me with a look, pulled a book off the shelf and said “What if you did a graphic novel, about this size, retelling the Greek myths?”

It was a real Eureka moment for me, and I raced home. I came back 2 weeks later with the first draft of Zeus: King of the Gods and plans for eleven more books.

MW: I love your recounting of the tale of Odysseus and Polyphemos. Seeing it play out visually made for a really powerful, hair-raising encounter, and I marveled at how vivid and tight your depiction was. It felt like a completely fresh story — and Odysseus’s hubris has never hit me quite so hard before. When he reveals his identity to Polyphemos, thus invoking Poseidon’s wrath and revenge against him, I was like the person in the movie theater screaming at the character not to open the door. Was it hard to limit yourself to just that segment of Odysseus’s story?

GO’C: I’m loving the mental image of people in a theater yelling advice to Odysseus — Don’t go in that cave, you fool! You’re gonna get eaten! Odysseus is such an amazing character — too clever by half, resourceful and heroic, but so deeply flawed — and this is made more amazing by that, chronologically speaking, he comes along so early in the development of our civilization. The Odyssey is one of the earliest written works we have, and it’s already an incredibly sophisticated piece of storytelling. The Greeks set the bar so high, they skipped all the baby steps. It’s like an architect who just started out and made the Great Pyramids or something.

I reread The Odyssey every few years (most often the Lattimore translation, if anyone’s interested) and the task of interpreting that, even just a tiny part, was very daunting. I chose to only relate the Polyphemos section because, well, it’s so harrowing and gruesome, and also it’s very key to the story — it explains the whole reason of Poseidon’s enmity toward Odysseus. I want to mention also that I stuck very, very close to the way that the story is told in The Odyssey itself — all that intense scary stuff is right in there, you just have to read it carefully. That’s one of the things that is so great about comics — the combination of visuals and words can make the immersion in the story so easy, so complete.

MW: Major geek bonding moment here, because the Lattimore translation is my favorite, too. I’m also fond of Padraic Colum’s The Children’s Homer. Okay, with such an immense body of material to choose from, how do you decide what parts of the gods’ stories to tell in detail?

GO’C: In a perfect world, I would be able to clone myself a hundred times over and every Greek myth would get the graphic retelling treatment. Well, actually, that wouldn’t be a perfect world — might be a few people out there who would want to see a complete O’Connor take on the oeuvre of Greek myths, but I bet I could count that number on one hand, and I wouldn’t be one of them.

When I set out to make Olympians I made this huge spreadsheet of all the gods, and which stories I most wanted to tell about them, stories that were instrumental to an understanding of the god. I knew that a lot of these stories would interweave through one god’s story into another, so I was careful to make sure I would introduce a key element in one god’s book that would be key to understanding another god later. Each book will stand alone, and hopefully will paint a full portrait of the god or goddess in question, but if you read the whole series all together, a more rich, more complete picture will be revealed.

And sometimes I just want to draw something so unbelievably cool I just need to fit it in, no matter what.

MW: Poseidon’s dream — his life as a horse — was my favorite part of the book. Gorgeous and wrenching. In your author’s note you talk about how that sequence made the book come together for you, gave you the insight into Poseidon that you needed. Can you speak a bit more about how you arrived at that scene?

G O’C: Yeah, that was a risky story to include, I felt, and I was worried its strangeness might lose some readers, but most folks really seem to dig it.

In ancient Greece, there was no Bible-equivalent, no codified selection of stories that stood as the official canon. Stories varied from town to town, and in some areas of Greece there was a tradition that Poseidon, like his little brother Zeus, was also spared the indignity of being devoured by his father Kronos, and instead lived his early life out in disguise as a stallion. I liked that because it explained the apparently incongruous connection between a god of the sea and horses, but I had already established, in Zeus, that Kronos had indeed swallowed Poseidon upon his birth. But Poseidon hadn’t died — like his siblings, he had grown up in his father’s belly. What had he done that whole time? This was my chance to use this other tradition of myth, that Poseidon had a whole lifetime as a stallion, galloping over green fields with his mare and foal, and reveal that he had dreamed it while he slept in his father’s belly. Then one day, he was literally vomited out of the only life, the only form he had ever known, into the ocean and, well, it’s not hard to guess why he’s such a temperamental god.

MW: Who was your favorite god or goddess when you were a kid? Has it changed?

GO’C: Hermes was my favorite god as a kid — I even dressed up as him to deliver an oral report back when I was in fourth grade — and he still is now. I think he ends up getting most of the best lines in Olympians. My favorite goddess is Hera, who gets most of the good lines that Hermes doesn’t. She wasn’t necessarily a favorite when I was a kid, though I did feel most authors gave her an undeserved bad rep. Of course she’s mean sometimes! She has the worst husband of all time!

MW: Ooh, good point — has working on these books changed the way you look at any of the other gods or goddesses? Any you now like more or less than you did before you started?

GO’C: A really cool part of working on this series is that as I finish each book I do feel like I have a much better understanding of the goddess or god in question. In fact, it’s kind of fair to say that the subject of which ever book I most recently completed is my favorite (sorry Hermes!). I just finished book six, Aphrodite, and I came away from that with a deeper understanding of the goddess of love, and how difficult it must have been for her to marry into the ultimate dysfunctional family of the Olympians. I’m a huge Aphrodite booster now.

Sometimes the act of writing the book will completely change the way I feel about a character — in Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory I tell the story of Heracles and I was always pretty blah about him before, but after getting into his head he is now my favorite hero. Conversely, growing up my favorite hero was always Theseus, and in writing his story in Poseidon: Earth Shaker, I realized what a total jerk he was and wrote him pretty much as a straight up villain.

MW: Yes, I appreciated your take on Theseus. Your depiction of Ariadne alone on the shore, waiting, waiting, is just devastating. Okay, next question: who are some of your writing influences?

GO’C: This is a tricky question — I have a lot of writers who have influenced me, but hopefully that occurs more on the subconscious level — once I notice I’m being influenced by a particular writer, I try to dial back that influence a tad so I’m not burying my own voice in their style. That said, I am very aware that I’ve taken quite a bit from both Philip Pullman and Neil Gaiman, but hopefully not to the point where I seem derivative. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and all that. Walt Simonson, and the way that he told mythological stories during his run on The Mighty Thor, is also a pretty clear antecedent for my writing.

MW: How about artists?

GO’C: Oh, so many influences to list here, but some of the biggest that spring to mind are Bill Watterson, Mike Mignola, P. Craig Russell, and the aforementioned Walt Simonson.

MW: Can you tell us a little about your process? In the author’s note, you mention writing three different drafts of Poseidon before you found the right approach, so I’m guessing that means you work from script first. Do you thumbnail as you go or wait until the script is complete? How does the process unfold from there?

GO’C: No, unfortunately I don’t just work from a script — for me, at least, since comics are such a synthesis of words and pictures, I tend to create both at the same time, building up the images and text simultaneously. So, the bummer about that is that when I tossed the first two drafts of Poseidon it wasn’t just scripts — it was two full dummies with drawings and everything (well, a full dummy and change — I only got through about two thirds of the second draft before I jettisoned it).

MW: Ouch.

GO’C: I start by reading every myth I can that relates to the subject until my head is literally swimming with cool stuff, and then I draw a ton of pictures and snippets of text in my sketchbooks. I assemble these elements into thumbnail sketches (the hardest part!) that tell a coherent story, and then I make a dummy of it, which is what I’ll show to my editors, with a separately typed script. After that, I go to finishes.

MW: In Poseidon you use a palette of really rich, saturated blues and greens, which of course is perfect for the god of the sea. I’d love to hear about how you approach coloring for all your books, how you arrive at the right palette, and so forth.

GO’C: Coloring was something I was very insecure about for years — I don’t feel like I have a very subtle color sense. I’m not very good with grays and browns (they look very similar to me) so I tend to have a very saturated palette with a lot of very bold colors. I feel like I’ve gotten a hang for it and most people seem to really like what I do with color which has been very rewarding for me. I tend to have an idea before I begin a book of what the dominant color scheme will be, and I envision the final colors as I draw the black and white artwork. Poseidon was always going to be about the deep blue greens, Hades was all about the deep cool purples, Aphrodite is all teal and pink. I’ve hardly used red in the series up until this point because the upcoming Ares is going to be all about the red and I wanted to really hold it back for that book.

MW: Do you still draw on paper with pen and pencil or have you gone digital?

GO’C: I still draw on paper, with a g-nib pen and brushes for Olympians. I get a certain amount of drag with the pen and brushes drawing on paper that I don’t get on a slick Wacom tablet. I do a certain amount of drawing and retouching digitally, but about 95% of the black-and-white artwork is on the paper.

MW: Besides Greek myths, what were your favorite books and comics as a kid? And what are you enjoying reading these days?

GO’C: My reading is all over the place, when I have a chance to do it. Lately I’ve not had much time to read, and the stack of things I want to devour is growing. I’m thinking of getting an Audible account so that I can at least listen to books while I draw. As a kid, I read a lot of comics and comic strips, and a lot of nonfiction, particularly biology-type stuff, animals and dinosaurs and things. I also really like humorous books — stuff like The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy — that don’t take themselves too seriously but are so, so clever and funny.

MW: You mentioned that book six in your Olympians series is Aphrodite. What else can you tell us about it?

GO’C: It’s all about love and the power it has — and not just love as a romantic concept but as the all-powerful generative power of life it fuels. Aphrodite is the outsider, the stranger of the Olympian family, and it’s an exploration of her struggles to fit in and get along with a group of very powerful deities who feel threatened, in different ways, by the fact that she is the very embodiment of the power of love — in that sense, she might just be the most powerful Olympian, a fact that especially doesn’t sit well with the frequently-smitten Zeus.

A bona fide geek: here’s the proof. Image courtesy George O’Connor.

MW: At GeekMom we’re constantly talking about our geeky passions. We’d love to hear to hear about yours! What are you into besides mythology and comics?

GO’C: Oh man, I’m the king of geekery, it’s almost alarming. I have a pretty sweet collection of Masters of the Universe action figures — I grew up with them, and they make these deluxe collector versions now that I have an almost complete set of. I also have a pretty decent Lego town that I’m working on very slowly. I’m pretty geeky about standup and improv comedy too. The list could go on and on…

MW: Spoken like a true geek. George, thanks so much for chatting with us! I can’t wait for the next installment of The Olympians!

Happy Comic Release Day! Welcome to another installment of GeekMom Comic Book Corner, where we recap our adventures in comics for the week.

Dakster Sullivan — Legend of Oz: The Wicked West
This week, I picked up The Legend of Oz: The Wicked West (written by Tom Hutchison, art by Allison Borges and color by Kate Finnegan). It’s nothing like the comics I usually pick up, so I decided to keep an open mind and jump in. I’m glad I did because the story is pretty good.

Just as the title suggests, this version of The Wizard of Oz takes place in the wild west. Imagine if Dorothy was actually a cowgirl and Toto was her horse. Her barn dropped on the Wicked Witch of the West and not a house. After that, the only resemblance to the original story are the character names.

If you’ve read the original novel, you will recognize some of the characters you wouldn’t know otherwise. Those of you who have only seen the original movie, you will still enjoy the series, but you probably won’t know who some of the characters are (or you’ll think the writer made them up).

In this version of the story, the Emerald City is run by a woman by the name of General Jinjur. Not sure what her deal is, but she has an ax to grind. For the most part, the Emerald City appears to be run by the women. Tin Man, Scarecrow and Lion are all in a prison in Emerald City, that is run by women. Again, I’m not sure what is going on here, so I’m hoping future issue will explain it all.

For the most of issue 1, we see the Tin Man (a real man, who appears to have great skills with an ax and super human strength), a lion (who so far seems to be just a lion) and the Scarecrow (who is actually a female character and looks to be of Indian origin).

I’m interested to see what happens and see how much (and how quickly) they explain the parts that confuse me.

I was given a copy of this title for this review. That in no way hindered by opinion. After all, I had to keep telling myself to keep an open mind through out the story. That should tell you something right?

The first thing we will cover is what exactly gender is. People often times think it is synonymous with sex or is feminism in disguise. This class is about men and women and how we can learn about gender through its social construction, as politics, as a diffuse concept, and as a lived experience. Constructions of gender vary from culture to culture and change throughout time. In the class we will look at how gender is constructed and how the stereotypes of certain gender traits are perpetrated by the producers of cultural material. Masculinity and femininity have traits associated with them that are not equal with a person’s sex.

If you’ve been waiting to see the course materials, all titles are on sale for a limited time on ComiXology – and even if you aren’t taking the course, it’s a great time to grab titles like the new Captain Marvel, Action Comics #1 (1938), and Superman: Birthright.

Party Like a Lannister is a short but sweet party planning guide currently available only through Apple iBook on your iPhone or iPad. (Monroe-Cassel hopes to make the ebook available in other formats, including PDF, at a later date.) The book covers typical party planning ground like sending invitations, decorating, meal planning, and more, all with a Game of Thrones theme. Each section is also marked as Novice, Initiate, or Maester to let you know the amount of time and skill you might need to complete the activity.

My favorite section is the decoration tips for each House of Westeros, giving hosts and hostesses ideas for setting the perfect ambience for the party. If your feast is Stark-themed, for example, you’ll want your home to capture the warmth of the halls of Winterfell. I also enjoyed the inclusion of a few choice Dothraki phrases you can impress your guests with, including how to say “Welcome!”

Party Like a Lannister is only $4.99 to download the 52 page guide to your Apple device, and you can check out a free preview before purchase to help you decide. If you’re planning on hosting a fete of ice and fire for the premiere on March 31, I recommend giving this informative and fun ebook a try.

I’ve been taking many breaks during the day to watch silly videos. This is because it’s early Spring in NorthEast America. What does that have to do with anything? Let me try to explain what March is like here:

March is like that mean girl you had to do your science project with because your best friend was out with mono.

March is like Mother Nature’s mother saying little brother Benny had to have a month too, even though Benny can’t even get his underwear on correctly, let alone figure out the weather.

March comes in like a lion and goes out like an old, spitting cat.

SOMEONE MAKE ME LAUGH, DAMMIT! Ah-hem.

Yeah, so to keep me from ripping my children’s heads off for no particular reason other than they seem to be there all the time, I’ve found some web channels that lighten the mood. Sometimes I even watch them with my kids. The channels have multiple funny videos; here are my favorites. Hope you enjoy them too!

Chris Kendall is consistently hilarious, and in this video he says my name several times! (PG-13)

Written By A Kid is so random and silly, my entire family enjoys it.

Okay, so Lizzie Bennet Diaries aren’t funny, but I have had so much fun keeping up with the videos all year. I can’t find time for regular TV, but five minute, well produced web series are exactly right. If you like Pride and Prejudice…

Simon’s Cat is always sweet. How do the bunny’s huge eyes fit behind his paws?

Happy Slip is made by a funny mom!

Teachers is so cynical and funny.

School of Thrones. *snort*

What else? Some new web series like Lizzie Bennet? A funny series I never heard of? Tell me!

Published by Roc Hardcover, River of Stars by Guy Gavriel Kay is set to release on April 2, 2013. In preparation for its release, Kay has crafted an exclusive excerpt specifically for readers of GeekMom.

The official synopsis of River of Star reads:

In his critically acclaimed novel Under Heaven, Guy Gavriel Kay told a vivid and powerful story inspired by China’s Tang Dynasty. Now, the international bestselling and multiple award-winning author revisits that invented setting four centuries later with an epic of prideful emperors, battling courtiers, bandits and soldiers, nomadic invasions, and a woman battling in her own way, to find a new place for women in the world – a world inspired this time by the glittering, decadent Song Dynasty.

Ren Daiyan was still just a boy when he took the lives of seven men while guarding an imperial magistrate of Kitai. That moment on a lonely road changed his life—in entirely unexpected ways, sending him into the forests of Kitai among the outlaws. From there he emerges years later—and his life changes again, dramatically, as he circles towards the court and emperor, while war approaches Kitai from the north.

Lin Shan is the daughter of a scholar, his beloved only child. Educated by him in ways young women never are, gifted as a songwriter and calligrapher, she finds herself living a life suspended between two worlds. Her intelligence captivates an emperor—and alienates women at the court. But when her father’s life is endangered by the savage politics of the day, Shan must act in ways no woman ever has.

In an empire divided by bitter factions circling an exquisitely cultured emperor who loves his gardens and his art far more than the burdens of governing, dramatic events on the northern steppe alter the balance of power in the world, leading to events no one could have foretold, under the river of stars.

Kay also wrote the following introduction for the exclusive excerpt:

“This is from chapter two of River of Stars in which a major figure, a young woman named Lin Shan, is introduced. At this early stage Shan is still a girl, on a springtime trip with her much-loved father to the Peony Festival in the second city of the empire. The empire is called Kitai, and it is inspired by the Song Dynasty of 12th century China.

Shan is extremely unusual for a woman in this quite repressive society. She’s gifted and independent, a writer of songs and poetry already, educated by her father far beyond the pattern for young women of the day. On this particular day she has just been introduced to two exceptional men. One of them, Lu Chen, is much-loved by some, but equally hated and feared by others – mainly political rivals. He is widely seen as the greatest writer and thinker of their time, and is on his way, under escort, to exile in the distant south. An exile expected to kill him.

They’ve all had dinner in the home of their host, and Shan has retired to her chamber…”

MIT student Nikolai Begg has combined his lifelong interest in medicine with his engineering skills to develop a potentially life-saving medical device that improves the safety of puncture access procedures. His work has also earned him the $30,000 Lemelson-MIT Student Prize to help bring his invention to market. I had a chance to speak with Nikolai about how he came up with the idea and his hopes for the future.

Wondering what the GeekMoms have been reading this month? The list includes an inside peek at Seattle, a National Book Award Winner set in North Dakota, a touch of Neil Gaiman, and a memoir by the daughter of the drunk at the bar.

This month Kelly Knox devoured Where’d You Go, Bernadette? by Maria Semple. The novel is set in Seattle, chock full of locales, attitudes, and even a weatherman familiar to any Seattleite. You don’t need to be a Seattle native to enjoy the book, though. The humorous novel is a collection of correspondences gathered by Bernadette Fox’s teen daughter, Bee, as she attempts to put the pieces together to explain her mother’s disappearance. Bernadette is a strong, somewhat strange personality, but she is likable and identifiable. Kelly loved the scene at the International Fountain — where she and her own daughter have visited many times before — as Bee learns that no matter what, her mother always has her back. Inspired by the fictional Bernadette Fox, Kelly wants to give her own daughter that feeling one day.

Laura just finished The Round House, Louise Erdrich’s National Book Award Winner. The book takes place on the Ojibwe reservation in North Dakota. Thirteen-year-old Joe’s mother is viciously attacked and he seeks justice, understanding, and a place for himself among his storied ancestors. It’s a coming-of-age story as well as a look at a pivotal issue on today’s reservations. This book is more accessible than some of Erdrich’s other critically acclaimed works. In other words, it’s a compelling read.

Laura is currently engrossed in The Midwife’s Tale, first in a series of impeccably researched historical mysteries by Samuel Thomas. This book was inspired by a midwife who lived in 17th century England. The main character, Briget Hodgson, is clever and powerful. She refuses to declare that a condemned woman isn’t pregnant, buying time to clear the woman of murder charges. Thank goodness the author is planning a series.

Sophie has been continuing her quest to read all the official X-Files novels with Skin by Ben Mezrich, a rather gruesome tale that will have you feeling leery toward skin transplants for several weeks after finishing. It sees Mulder & Scully travelling to Thailand to hunt down a mythical monster called, rather obviously, the Skin Eater. Hmmm, I wonder what it does…? Sophie has also made her way through Neil Gaiman’s Calendar of Tales, a series of twelve short stories published for free in conjunction with Blackberry earlier this year. She continued the Gaiman theme by beginning Stardust and is looking forward to beginning her book club’s latest choice, Stephanie Meyer’s The Host, very soon.

On the recommendation of her friend, author Jennifer Margulis, Kris bought Daughter of the Drunk at the Bar by Michelle O’Neil and devoured it overnight. The memoir is a touching, heart-wrenching and yet uplifting look at growing up with an alcoholic father and a reminder that (as the subtitle says) for every regular manning a barstool there’s likely a family at home. In the book, “Janie” grows from preschool age to adulthood, wondering what she did to incite her father’s wrath, wishing that her mother would – just once – protect her from her father, and finding tiny moments of serenity when everything seemed okay.

What caught my attention were his awesome little geek books. They looked like a lot of fun and something I could see my little one reading. The books are parodies of classic children’s tales such as If You Give a Mouse a Cookie and The Teddy Bear’s Picnic.

My favorite of the set is by far Nighty Night Wampa and If You Give a Jawa a Broken Droid. The stories have a child-like magic to them and felt like they should have a place in the Star Wars Universe.

For Doctor Who fans, 11 Little Doctors was a cute parody on the tale of 10 Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed. Goodnight Sweetie, Cyberman’s Picnic and his most recent book But Not the Dalek are also wonderful parodies of with a Dr. Who touch.

Lily and Aby enjoying their books \ Image: Charles Thurston

Another classic tale he touches on is The Hobbit. If You Give a Hobbit a Ring is a cute introduction to The Lord of the Rings trilogy and he does a nice job putting it together in only a few pages.

In addition to these little books, he also makes and sells other great pieces of art.

My favorite from Mega Con is his Live, Laugh, Love piece that sold out in ten minutes of the first day of the convention. Hopefully he can find some more frames to make another one. I’d love this piece for my office.

To celebrate the return of Doctor Who to BBC America on March 30, 2013, Broadway is giving one lucky GeekMom reader a package filled with Doctor Who books and Blu-rays.

April 2, 2013, marks the release of three new Doctor Who novels – Plague of the Cybermen, Shroud of Sorrow, and The Dalek Generation, published by Broadway.

Each novel was written specifically to coincide with the return of Doctor Who to television, and the 50th anniversary. They were written in collaboration with the BBC’s Cardiff-based television production team. The authors were given advanced access to the scripts of upcoming episodes and were given secrets about the Doctor’s future. Additionally, each novel has been approved by BBC to ensure nothing was overlooked.

One lucky GeekMom reader will receive the Doctor Who TARDIS library prize pack, courtesy of Broadway, which includes:

When the Doctor arrives in the 19th-century village of Klimtenburg, he discovers the residents suffering from some kind of plague – a ‘wasting disease’. The victims face a horrible death – but what’s worse, the dead seem to be leaving their graves. The Plague Warriors have returned…

The Doctor is confident he knows what’s really happening; he understands where the dead go, and he’s sure the Plague Warriors are just a myth. But as some of the Doctor’s oldest and most terrible enemies start to awaken he realises that maybe – just maybe – he’s misjudged the situation.

It is the day after John F. Kennedy’s assassination – and the faces of the dead are everywhere. PC Reg Cranfield sees his late father in the mists along Totter’s Lane. Reporter Mae Callon sees her grandmother in a coffee stain on her desk. FBI Special Agent Warren Skeet finds his long-dead partner staring back at him from raindrops on a window pane.

Then the faces begin to talk, and scream… and push through into our world.

As the alien Shroud begins to feast on the grief of a world in mourning, can the Doctor dig deep enough into his own sorrow to save mankind?

Tommy Donbavand is an author, actor, and playwright best known for his Scream Street novels for kids. He is also a huge fan of all things Doctor Who, plays blues harmonica, and makes a mean balloon poodle.

“The Sunlight Worlds Offer You A Life of Comfort and Plenty. Apply now at the Dalek Foundation.”

Sunlight 349 is one of countless Dalek Foundation worlds, planets created to house billions suffering from economic hardship. The Doctor arrives at Sunlight 349, suspicious of any world where the Daleks are apparently a force for good – and determined to find out the truth. The Doctor knows they have a far more sinister plan – but how can he convince those who have lived under the benevolence of the Daleks for a generation?

But convince them he must, and soon. For on another Foundation planet, archaeologists have unearthed the most dangerous technology in the universe…

Nicholas Briggs is a British actor and writer who has worked on Doctor Who since the 1980s. He has played numerous roles on the show but is best known as the voice of the Doctor’s archenemy, the Daleks.

In the new rebooted series from BAFTA-winning writer Steven Moffat (Steven Spielberg’s upcoming Tintin, Sherlock, Coupling), the Doctor has regenerated into a brand-new man, but danger strikes before he can even recover. Matt Smith debuts as the new, Eleventh incarnation of the famous Time Lord alongside a new travelling companion, the enigmatic Amy Pond (Karen Gillan). Amy and the Doctor explore time and space, visiting 17th century Venice, France during the 1890s and the United Kingdom in the far future, now an entire nation floating in space. As always, wherever the Doctor goes, his oldest enemies are never far behind — the Daleks are hatching a new master plan from the heart of war-torn London in the 1940s. But they are not the only strange creatures the Doctor and Amy must face — there are also alien vampires, humanoid reptiles, old enemies such as the Weeping Angels, and a silent menace that follows Amy and the Doctor around wherever they go. This 6-disc set includes all 13-episodes from this thrilling series plus two exclusive new scenes, Doctor Who: Confidentials, outtakes and much more.

Penned by award winning lead writer and executive producer Steven Moffat (Sherlock, The Adventures of Tintin) and starring BAFTA nominee Matt Smith, the first part of the sixth series premiered on BBC America this spring and garnered record ratings for the channel. In addition, it earned rave reviews, including an “A” and a spot on “The Must List” from Entertainment Weekly, was featured on NBC’s Today show and The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson and over 6,500 fans packed Comic-Con’s Doctor Who panel where stars Matt Smith and Karen Gillan made their first SDCC appearance together. The sixth season includes a two-part premiere that was set and filmed in the U.S. as well as an episode penned by long-time Doctor Who fan and award-winning writer Neil Gaiman (Coraline, Neverwhere, The Sandman). This must-own release for all sci-fi fans contains every thrilling episode from the widely-acclaimed sixth season along with the 2010 Christmas Special starring Michael Gambon (Harry Potter), A Christmas Carol, and a plethora of bonus features including exclusive Meanwhile in the Tardis scenes, Doctor Who Confidential, Monster Files, and Audio Commentary.

Doctor Who returns, after a record-breaking season on BBC America, with five new blockbuster episodes in the first half of Series Seven. Join the Doctor (Matt Smith) and his companions Amy and Rory (Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill, aka “the Ponds”) on their latest escapades through space and time. Featuring an asylum full of Daleks, a spaceship full of dinosaurs and a town called Mercy in the Wild West, this explosive series concludes with Amy and Rory’s heart-breaking farewell – a race against time through the streets of Manhattan. Will the Doctor really lose the Ponds forever? There’s only one way to find out. Bonus features include the BBC America specials The Science of Doctor Who and Doctor Who at Comic-Con, as well as the Pond Life featurettes, the prequel to Asylum of the Daleks, and The Making of The Gunslinger.

To enter:

Leave a comment letting me about your favorite Doctor Who episode. Only one comment per person. Residents of Canada and the United States only.

When leaving a comment, please use a valid email address so that I can notify the winner. Accounts linking to Facebook, Twitter, or another service, will not be counted. If your Disqus account is linked to another service, please sign out before replying. If you fail to enter your email address, your comment will not be counted.

Giveaway closes Friday, March 29, 2013 at 11:59 PM PST. At that time, I’ll use a random number generator to choose the winner. The winner will be notified by email on March 30, 2013. The winner will have 24 hours to reply to the email. If the winner does not respond, then I’ll choose another winner. After I receive a response from the winner, the winner will be announced on GeekMom.

The spaghetti carbonara I made using the recipe in Lucy Knisley’s delicious new Relish. Photo: Amy Kraft

Lucy Knisley’s new graphic novel memoir, Relish: My Life in the Kitchen, is so mouth-watering that I couldn’t put it down until I read it cover to cover. The book recounts her young life by describing the memorable tastes that punctuated it. I was salivating.

Relish: My Life in the Kitchen begins with young Lucy Knisley as a kid in the kitchen. Her mom worked in chef David Bouley’s restaurant. Her godfather was a restaurant critic. Her Uncle Peter was Peter Dent, who taught her how to chuck oysters in his gourmet food shop. Her dad was a good home cook, and they were surrounded by artists and chefs and great dinner parties. It’s how I imagined I’d raise my kids in New York City, yet my kids are known to eat mac and cheese out of a box.

When her parents divorced, Lucy and her mom went to live among the farms of the Catskills, where she tasted the freshest of fresh ingredients. She and her mom started baking like crazy to keep up with the enormous supply of eggs from their hens. I envied this childhood as someone who really didn’t try a fresh mushroom until college. I thought it was normal to only eat mushrooms out of a can. I felt better when Lucy confessed to eating boxed mac and cheese and Oreos and other junky contraband at friends’ houses.

My favorite part of the story is when Lucy as a tween girl went with her best friend and their moms to a small town in Mexico. Not only does she describe each bite of Mexican street food so completely that your stomach growls, but it’s also a very funny coming of age story. With both moms stuck in the hotel with food poisoning, she and her friend Drew were left to their own devices in the street fairs and shops. Among the tamale stands they also discover cheap Mexican porno mags for a pubescent Drew, and meanwhile Lucy gets her first period.

In college she discovers all of the flavors that Chicago has to offer. Now life becomes a balance of food and art. Having had the reverse journey of Lucy Knisley — I grew up near Chicago and then moved to New York — I found myself being able to call to mind the flavor of so many of the places she describes throughout the book. Since I couldn’t possible know what her and her mom’s cooking tastes like, I was so grateful for the recipes that end each chapter. The pages of my book are already covered with food since this is now one of my go-to cookbooks. My favorite so far has been the recipe for spaghetti carbonara. It was amazing. I’m anxious to try the marinated lamb next.

I plan on buying this book for every foodie I know. Its a great book for budding foodie teens, too. There’s some light drinking throughout the book, as well as a recipe for alcoholic (and non-alcoholic) sangria, but nothing else besides the porno mags that would be objectionable for the younger ones. I’m eager to share the book with my daughter when she gets older, though I’m sharing the recipes with her now.

Each Sunday, a new quiz will be posted and you will have until 11:59 pm PST the following Friday to submit your answer. The kind folks over at ThinkGeek will be providing a $50 gift certificate for each week’s winner. In order to be in with a chance of winning, you simply need to send your puzzle answer to the email address below.The winner will be chosen at random from all correct answers.

We’ll announce the winner’s name on Saturday, along with the solution to the previous week’s puzzle. Then we’ll start the process all over again the next day. Sound like a good thing? Then let’s get right on with this week’s puzzle.

EXAMPLE:

From the picture clues, identify the famous author:

EXAMPLE SOLUTION:

PHIL + LIP + PULL + MAN = PHILIP PULLMAN

GEEKMOM PUZZLE WEEK #42:

From the picture clues, identify the famous author:

Send your answers to geekmompuzzle@gmail.com with the subject line “GeekMom Puzzle #42″ and please include the name you would like announced if you are the winner. If you REALLY want to impress me, explain why this week’s solution is especially apt. Good luck!

Brian K. Vaughan and Marcos Martin offered their new comic series, Private Eye, to anyone on the internet for any price they wanted to pay.

This week’s adventures climbing the Cliffs of Insanity include a look at how the world of comic publishing is changing, why a number of creators have walked away from jobs at DC Comics, and a note about PAX East! Hint: If you’re there, there will be swag at the GeekDad/GeekMom panel Sunday!

The Game Changers: Comixology and Kickstarter

I could easily title this post “how Comixology and Kickstarter can help talented comic writers do without DC and Marvel.” Because it’s become increasing clear this month that talented writers can find an audience on their own without creating for those publishers.

How did this happen?

It’s similar to what’s happening in book publishing. When I first started writing fiction in 2000, the only road to publication was to write a book, find an agent, have that agent shop it around to the big publishers located in New York City, and hope to get a contract. And, if the author received a contract offer, the publisher was in the driver’s seat and the only leverage an author had was to take their toys and go home. Of course, that would mean their story would never see publication.

Fast forward to 2013. There are no many options for authors with completed books. There’s self-publishing, digital-first publishers, Wattpad, traditional publishing, and small publishers. If the big city publishers turn down a book, it can still find an audience. And it may be better for an author to be self-published in some cases. Not all, of course, and certainly many self-published books fail to sell to anyone but friends and family members but it’s a chance where there previously wasn’t any.

My books are with a small publisher and a digital-first publisher, respectively. And it’s only recently I started making more than four figures on them. But that’s far better than my stories sitting sad and lonely on my hard drive. I have options. Now, so do comic creators.

In the past, the only way to distribute a comic that would make any money was to go through Diamond Distributors, which sells to comic speciality stores around the country. If Diamond wouldn’t carry a comic, it wouldn’t sell. And Diamond has some stringent standards over what they would carry and what they would put in their previews magazine that comic buyers and fans perused to order books.

Comixology, the digital comics platform, is changing all that. Not only can people buy major publisher comics from them, their new program will allow creators with self-made comics to sell them on their site. Yes, people can do this on their own site as well but it’s difficult to drive traffic to an unknown comic. There is a greater chance of someone looking at the genre list on Comixology and finding the comic listed there.

Even more, already known comic creators can simply put up issue #1 of a comic on their site and simply asking people to pay what they want for the issue. That’s what Brian K. Vaughan and Marcos Martin did with Private Eye this week. And yes, I paid for my copy, and, yes, it was very good. Because of digital, Vaughan and Martin could take their project directly to readers, bypassing all gatekeepers.

Comixology’s offer to independent comic creators is the same kind of game changer that Amazon supplied by allowing self-published books to be uploaded, free of charge, to their site for purchase on Kindles. Of course, Comixology and Amazon both take a slice of any sales but they’re supplying the marketing platform.

What does this mean?

Well, for readers, that means more books to read at the press of a touchscreen or the click of a mouse. For creators not yet at the level of readership as Vaughan and Martin, it means a chance to be noticed by those who would never hear of their work otherwise. It’s a revolution.

I received issue #1 of Flesh of White last weekend, a project that was funded via Kickstarter. (And now I can’t wait for the rest of the issues…)

And then add in Kickstarter, and it gets even more fun as now creators can raise the money to create a comic up front, rather than having to pay for all those costs out of pocket. $2,000 is more than I and most aspiring creators have to make a comic. But my son can be in the upcoming Greyhaven Comics “You Are Not Alone,” graphic novel because it was funded on Kickstarter. I can see a future in which creators fund their projects on Kickstarter and eventually make the comic available for sale on Comixology.

It’s a whole new world. And creators now have options they never had before. For publishers, however, it might lead to them bleeding talent if that talent isn’t satisfied.

In publicity for April’s issues of DC Comics, the company said readers would be left in a “state of shock” in a good way.

Right now, it seems more like DC is in a state of shock as the latest in an increasing list of creators walked away from the company.

Andy Diggle, the new writer for Action Comics, walked away from the book for “professional reasons.” Comic legend George Perez had previously left Superman because of disagreement with the creative direction of that title, only to be replaced by Dan Jurgens, who was replaced by Scott Lobdell, all in the span of less than two years. And there was the unrelated shelving of Orson Scott Card’s Superman story as a result of protest surrounding Card’s anti-gay activism.

Given that a major motion picture called Man of Steel is happening this summer and that this is the 75th Anniversary of Superman, one would hope DC would be more organized to pounce on those major media events and try to translate them to sales and renewed interest in the character.

The week got worse for DC.

Joshua Fialkov of I, Vampire, the newly announced writer for Green Lantern Corps and Red Lanterns, left those books because of creative differences with DC. Bleeding Cool and Comic Book Resouces both reported the ‘creative differences’ were due to an order to kill off John Stewart, one of the Earth’s Green Lanterns.

Stewart also happens to be the Green Lantern featured in the Justice League and Justice League Unlimited shows, meaning he is widely known outside the small universe of monthly comic books. So widely known that when my kids saw posters for the ill-fated Green Lantern movie featuring Hal Jordan as Green Lantern, they said “Mom, wait, I thought Green Lantern was a black dude. Who’s the white guy?”

That DC editorial would even consider killing off a character with vast marketing potential to an audience outside their usual readers is odd. That they would consider killing off one of the most well-known African-American characters in their stories is unfortunate and disturbing. Sure, there has been a new Green Lantern introduced and he’s an Arab-American but the DC universe can handle two non-white Lanterns.

Word came late Thursday via Bleeding Cool that DC had reconsidered the plan to kill Stewart.

This all is reminiscent of Gail Simone’s being told she was off Batgirl. That also happened also because of creative differences. At the time of her tossed off the book, Simone answered a tweet jokingly asking if she left because she refused to “fridge” (i.e. kill of a character, probably female) with “Funny you should mention that.” (No major characters have died in the book as yet.)

DC reversed itself and brought Simone back. It doesn’t look like that will happen with Diggle and Fialkov. And, in the end, they’re likely better off not putting their names on stories that have plots they oppose.

And with Kickstarter and Comixology, they also have options to write the stories they want and still make money as professionals.

DC (and Marvel) no longer holds the cards. Writers and artists have other places to go now to grow their careers.

This Sunday at 10 a.m. at the Pax East Convention in Boston, Massachusetts, I’ll be a part of a Geek Parenting panel with writers and editors from GeekDad and GeekMom.

Last year, the panel room was packed with a crowd of approximately 800 people. It made this suburban mom have a little rock star moment. But, mostly, it was great to see so many parents sharing their pursuits and passions with their kids.

Much like Faeries themselves, the new book Faeryland: The Secret World of the Hidden Ones exists in a liminal space. Not just for kids, yet reminiscent of a classic children’s picture book, this book unites charming design with detailed fairy lore. Beautiful illustrations and fun features like envelopes full of hidden treasures appeal to those with a love of enchantment. (The format is reminiscent of the Ology books)

Written by the incomparable historian and folklorist, John Matthews and featuring illustrations by surrealist artist Matt Dangler, the book revives traditional fairy facts and lore for a new audience.

Dangler’s illustrations are both beautiful and slightly creepy, perfect for fairydom. Fairies from all over the world are represented in this book and the reader is gifted with little bonuses such as recipes for cakes and ointments, fairy spells and replica photographs from the Victorian Era. (I made you a Vine video!)

While die hard fairy scholars may not find much new in the way of fairy information here, they’ll still want to add this book to their collection. And for those new to fairy watching they won’t find a better book to start with. John Matthews has done a thorough job of touching on all facets of fairydom in this book, and Matt Dangler’s illustrations are sure to become new favorites amongst fans.

Are you a Downton Abbey fan? Would you happen to also be a zombie fan? Have you ever thought to smush the two together? No?

Well, lucky for you, Rob Kutner has! Yes, he’s the fabulous guy who’s earned five Emmies writing for Jon Stewart, and is now writing for the new CONAN show. But more importantly he gave us the book, “Apocalypse How: Turn the End of Times into the Best of Times”. It’s essential reading, if you ever get that creepy sense that it’s all going to go down any minute. Since he was given a bit of a reprieve, with December 21st passing without incident, he’s using his gifts to entertain us a bit more.

Take two and half minutes of your day and enjoy this scrumptious mash up.

Happy Comic Release Day! Welcome to another installment of GeekMom Comic Book Corner, where we recap our adventures in comics for the week. This week, we look at DC Comics’ Batman and Robin #18 and Marvel’s All-New X-Men #8.

Kelly Knox – Batman and Robin #18 (DC Comics)
Thanks to the Marvel #1 promotion, I read a lot of comics last week. But of all those books, none stood out like the gut-wrenching Batman and Robin #18, which follows a silent Bruce Wayne in the aftermath of the events of Batman Incorporated #8.

Spoiler warning for Batman Incorporated #8.

Written by Peter Tomasi with art by Patrick Gleason, not one word of dialogue is spoken, but volumes of emotion pour off the pages as Bruce struggles with the death of Damian. As Bruce mourns his son, he takes to the streets of Gotham, stricken with grief and anger.

The issue brought tears to my eyes and showcases just how powerfully a comic book can tell a story. Batman and Robin #18 is destined to be a classic.

Dakster Sullivan — All-New X-Men #8
After two weeks of avoiding spoiler sites and Marvel’s news feed, I finally received my copy of the All-New X-Men #8 (written by Brian Michael Bendis and art by David Marquez ) from the Marvel Subscription service. This issue focused entirely on Angel. I know something bad happened to the character, but I have no clue what that is. That didn’t stop me from enjoying this issue, which is my favorite out of the series so far.

The two Angels run into each other in the sky and immediately, young Angel realizes that something isn’t quite right with his future self. After a battle against Hydra at the Avengers’ Mansion, Angel from the past is hurt and rightfully so, freaked out by his future self. I’m not sure what freaks him out more…interacting with his future self, or the fact that no one will talk about what happened to him. I know it’s freaking me out.

Captain America gets involved and the real humor of the issue kicks in.

All-New X-Men Issue 8, art by David Marquez \ Image: Marvel Comics

I’ve heard a rumor that eventually one of the original X-Men is going to join Cyclops’ team and after reading this issue, my best guess would be that member will be Angel.

In a small way, I can almost see Jean going rouge on the team. Her actions in this issue have me a little scared for her. Young Cyclops’s actions on the other hand have me wanting to throw him a parade.

A major plus of this issue is Kitty and Iceman lending some comic relief to what ends up being a very serious issue.

Actress Julianne Moore has launched a new companion app for her Freckleface Strawberry book series. Image: Peter Lindbergh.

Julianne Moore is an Oscar-nominated actress, an accomplished author, a mom, and yes — a freckleface.

Long before Moore was known for her work in films such as Boogie Nights, The Big Lebowski, The Hours, The Kids Are All Right, and Game Change, she was a little girl with the nickname. As an adult, she parlayed those childhood taunts into the book Freckleface Strawberry, which includes illustrations by LeUyen Pham. To date, Freckleface Strawberry has had three adventures as well as a full-length musical.

Now, the little red-haired girl is bringing her sweet messages to the digital masses. All three Freckleface Strawberry books just launched in the the e-book format. To accompany the character’s digital debut, Moore and Nymbly are also introducing the Freckleface Strawberry Monster Maker app.

Designed for the iPad and iPad mini, the new app has Freckleface Strawberry helping kids make new, furry friends, by creating their very own on-screen monster. If you’re familiar with the books, the app makes perfect sense. Otherwise, it’s cute and allows users to get creative, share pics with friends and family, and more.

I got the chance to talk to Moore about the new app, her work, her life as a mom, and her now-famous nickname.

GM: The books have actually been out for a few years now, but what made you first decide to write Freckleface Strawberry?

Julianne Moore: My son was 7 at the time and he was getting his two front teeth. He didn’t like them at all and would say stuff like, “Since I got my haircut, I don’t like how my ears are.” He suddenly became very self-conscious. I remembered when I was 7, I had this nickname “Freckleface Strawberry” and I found it so humiliating. Of course, now I laugh at those awful names. So that’s what this book is about. It’s how those things in childhood that bother us often don’t go away when you grow up. I still have red hair and freckles, but they matter less because you have more things to think about. You have a family, you have a marriage, you have a job, you have friends and interests; having freckles and red hair goes to the bottom of the list in terms of things that we care about. That was the inspiration for writing that first book. Then it was so much fun, I wrote two more!

GM: Did you originally envision it as a series — and a musical?

Moore: The first time I wrote it, it was sort of that one story and then very quickly, the second one followed. Even before I had published the first one, I had written the second one. Then, it took me a really long time to write the third one! I kept making these jokes to my husband [Bart Freundlich], who’s a writer, that I was blocked.

GM: Do you plan to continue the series?

Freckleface Strawberry. Image: LeUyen Pham/Bloomsbury USA.

Moore: I don’t know — maybe. I have another book actually coming out; not with Bloomsbury, but Chronicle, in September. It’s called My Mom is a Foreigner, But Not to Me. That’s a book about the experience of growing up with a mom from another country. My mother was from Scotland.

It wasn’t really an intentional thing to be in the children’s book world, but it’s become something that I really love doing. It’s really fun and the app is an extension of that. I wanted to create something that was like the book and complemented the book.

The app is sort of a continuation of how in Dodgeball she [Freckleface Strawberry] has that monster. She talks about the monster and why she has the monster. The monster is in her imagination and he keeps her company, plays games with her, and cheers her up. He’s her pal and he’s obviously what’s inside of her. So I wanted to talk about that with kids and say, “What does your monster look like?” — and you’ll able to make it and take a picture. Also, I wanted to create something that parents wouldn’t feel bad about giving their kids to play with in the backseat of the car or a restaurant. It’s an extension of this book and the child-centric world that they create. I hope that I’ve accomplished that. It was a lot of fun to do.

GM: You mention monsters in the book and the app. What’s the significance there? Or do you just think that kids love playing monsters?

Moore: I think that kids like to play monsters. In Dodgeball, Freckleface Strawberry is afraid of balls, but she’s not afraid of monsters, her imagination or the dark. And this kid, who seems very scary and loves balls, turns out to be afraid of monsters. She has to say to him, “Hey it’s not real; it’s just me. I’m the monster.” It’s just a way to talk about fears. Also, your inside monster can help you be brave or it can just keep you company, be your friend. It’s just part of yourself and your imagination.

GM: Are these the types of games that you used to play as a kid?

Moore: Well, I hated dodgeball. That’s sort of the thing I talk about with kids, talking about different fears. Then in Best Friends Forever, there are two different friends that have become best friends. They’re told that they can’t be friends because they are too different, but then they discover that they can because they’re two human beings. The books are obviously based somewhat on my experiences growing up. I always say that Best Friends Forever is a metaphor for marriage. However, they take place in a child-centric world where the kids figure out the answers to their own problems.

GM: So wait, does that mean that you married Windy Pants Patrick?

Moore: I didn’t, but I married someone who loves balls. Dodgeball is dedicated to Bart. He loves to play ball. It’s just one of those things where we’ll do stuff that I could see Windy Pants Patrick and Freckleface Strawberry doing, doing stuff with each other and sometimes doing stuff that the other one likes. And that’s OK to do; that’s what friends do.

GM: Was there a real Windy Pants Patrick?

Moore: The character is actually based on a special-ed kid that I knew when I was on the playground in Lincoln, Nebraska. My school was very forward thinking; this would have been like 1968. We all played on the same playground. There was an elementary school and a special-ed department for kids that were developmentally delayed and had other disabilities. Because we were all exposed to one another… at first it seemed very different. There was one very big boy who was older than me that I used to play with. He really changed my notion of what a disability was and how you interact with people forever. It was really eye opening for me. Windy Pants Patrick is not developmentally delayed, but he is based on a friend that I had that seemed very scary and that was so not the case.

The Freckleface Strawberry Monster Maker app is available for the iPad and iPad mini. Image: Nymbly.

GM: With the nickname and all, did you feel bullied as a kid?

Moore: I wasn’t bullied. Kids don’t want to be different. I didn’t want to have freckles. Where I was growing up at the time, there weren’t a lot of freckly kids. Everything that was said in the book like, “What are those?” and “How did you get them?” — those were all things that were said to me. It was stuff that would make kids uncomfortable, but it’s interesting. Have you read the reviews of that book [Sticks and Stones: Defeating the Culture of Bullying and Rediscovering the Power of Character and Empathy] about bullying that just came out? There were a few and I’m just paraphrasing, but one of the things that she [author Emily Bazelon] said is that we’re kind of misnaming what bullying is. There are ways that children treat each other that are unkind and there’s teasing and then there’s genuine abuse and real bullying. There are lots of different categories for what happens with kids. I certainly didn’t experience bullying. I think I experienced teasing, which is a different kind of thing.

GM: Well how did you overcome all of that?

Moore: It’s the same thing that happens in the book. How does a 7-year-old solve a problem like this? You think, “I’m going to get rid of my freckles.” In her experience, the way she got rid of them was to cover them up. In covering the freckles up, she completely disappeared as a kid and no one could see her. When she goes away, her friends miss her. Her experience with her freckles are not the same as everyone else’s experience. These things seem problematic, but at the end of the day, who cares about having a million freckles when I have a million friends?

GM: What role do freckles play in your life and work today?

Moore: Hopefully very little! Our physiognomy obviously plays a part in who we are. If you’re extra tall or extra short, big or little or freckly; all of those things are going to create some kind of image in the world. Hopefully, we have all learned to look beyond and that doesn’t become the defining issue — our physicality is not the defining issue.

GM: So you’ve never come up for a role and had the freckles be an issue?

Moore: I don’t know; they wouldn’t tell me that. But I’m sure I have. Sometimes somebody says so-and-so is not the right age or too tall or this or that, but all of it’s subjective.

GM: I know that your kids are older now, but do they even care that their mom is an Oscar-nominated actress, an author and all of these other wonderful things?

Moore: My son said the most wonderful thing to me the other night when we were talking about stuff that we need to have in the fridge. I had run out of turkey and I needed to make my daughter’s sandwich for a field trip and was like “darnit!” He said something about, “Oh that’s ok, mom. You kind of have other stuff to do; you’re busy.” And I thought that was really sweet and I said that I try to do a good job and maybe I would do a better job if I wasn’t doing all of this work. Then he said, “I can’t imagine having a mom that didn’t work.” I think they both have an appreciation for what I do and what their dad does and what their futures hold, in terms of work. We’ve always stressed to them that work is about being able to make money and take care of yourself, but if you’re lucky enough, it’s also a form of delight, expression and the way that you live your life. That’s what I want for them. I want them to find things that they find joy in doing.

GM: Do you have a favorite children’s book?

Moore: That’s tough; there are too many. There’s one that I read that’s fairly new, by a writer who’s written so many things. Do you know Brundibár? It’s by Maurice Sendak and Tony Kushner. I love it. I just think it’s endlessly inspiring; beautifully illustrated, incredible story, very moving, a lot of historical context, shocking and surprising. What’s amazing about it is how kids respond to it. It’s just a brilliant book.